Vending machine



Jan. 23, 1934. FRITSCHE ET AL 1,944,229

VENDING MACHINE Filed Feb. 20, 1329 2 Sheets-Sheet l //v v1v TORS John Frzwsche a Josepiz 6.

MLM %M A TTORNE 7.

Jan. 23, 1934. r J FR|TSHE r AL 1,944,229

VENDING MACHINE Filed Feb. 20, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 //v VENTORS Johrz/Fj itscke a J05 ep/z fjladi ATTORNEY.

Patented Jan. 23, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Philadelphia, Pa.; Fritsche said Hadik assignor to said Application February 20, 1929. Serial No. 341,322

2 Claims.

The object of this invention is to devise a novel construction of a vending machine adapted for vending articles in package form or articles which can be strung upon a supporting element. This type of vending machine is especially adapted to vend articles by discharging them into a position accessible to the intending user for only temporary use, or they may be discharged in such a manner that the purchaser can take them away.

In our prior Patent No. 1,437,970 patented December 5, 1922, we have described and broadly claimed a vending machine which embodies the foregoing features, but it was necessary for the intending purchaser, after the insertion of a coin of the proper denomination, to rotate a handle to release the article removing mechanism. In this invention the coin releases the stop which permits the operative stroke of the article removing mechanism.

With the above in view, our invention comprehends a novel vending machine.

It further comprehends novel means for supporting the articles, novel means for removing an article and discharging it into a position accessible to the user, and novel means for ensuring a full stroke of the article removing member.

Other novel features of construction and advantage will hereinafter appear in the detailed description and the appended claims.

For the purpose .of illustrating the invention, we have shown in the accompanying drawings a preferred embodiment of it, which, in practice, will give satisfactory and reliable results. It is, however, to be understood that this embodiment is typical only and the various instrumentalities of which our invention consists can be variously arranged and organized, and the invention is not limited to the exact arrangement and organization of these instrumentalities as herein set forth.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a vending machine embodying our invention.

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the article containing cabinet with its door in its open position.

Figure 3 is a sectional view on line 3-3 of Figure 1 showing more clearly certain features of the article removing mechanism.

Figure 4 is a sectional view showing certain of the parts seen in Figure 3 in a different relation from that seen in said Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a front elevation of a portion of the article removing member.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts.

Referring to the drawings:

1 designates a vendingmachine embodying our invention. The vending machine is provided with a lower cabinet 2 having an open top 3, thereby forming a chamber to receive articles which have been temporarily used.

The lower cabinet is provided with front angles 4 and rear angles 5 which latter carry at their upper ends the article receiving cabinet or casing 6 containing the articles to be vended. The cabinet 6 is provided with a single door 7 secured thereto by hinges 8 and providedwith a key controlled lock 9. The door 7 is provided with a coin slot 10 and an opening 11 through which a coin is returned which did not operate the machine. The door is cut away to form an article delivery opening 12 through which an article can be removed.

The article receiving cabinet 6 is provided with an article receiving chamber 13, which at its lower end is provided with an upwardly extending guard 14 in the form of a plate carried by the bottom and the rear wall of the cabinet 6. Above the door 7 is a slot 15.

The article retainer The article retainer consists of a longitudinally extending bar 15 having a slot 16 extending longitudinally through it and opening through its top. The top edges are smooth instead of notched as in our prior Patent No. 1,437,970. The forwardend of the article retainer is provided with a downwardly and forwardly extending terminal 16f which is apertured to receiveone end of a cable 17 detachably secured thereto by means of a pin 18.

If a permanent sale is to .be made of the article to be vended the cable 17 may beomitted. The bar 15 is secured in position by means of a screw 19 in the same manner as in our prior patent, and is also supported by a spring pressed bracket 20 pivotally supported by the rear wall of the article receiving cabinet and retained by its spring against the angle 21, so that it will open in the direction in which an article is to be moved when removing it from the-article retainer.

The bar 15 .has fixed to it one end of a flat spring 22, the forward end. of which terminates in proximity to the terminal, beneath an aperture23. The cable 17 is looped into the chamber 3 and has one end securedwithin the cabinet 6 in any desired manner. The articles 24 to be vendedare strung upon the article retainerin any desired manner and if the articles are towels as illustrated, they may be provided with grommets 25.

The article removing mechanism The article removing member 26 is in the form of a plate slidable on a bar 27 and provided with a grasping handle 28 which extends through the slot 15' in the front of the cabinet 6. The article removing member 26 has pivoted to it at 29 a lever 30 having its bottom curved and provided at one end with a hook 31 and at its opposite end is pointed as at 32.

A spring 33 tends to move the pointed end 32 downwardly. A cam 34 carried by a bracket 35 is in the path of the lever 30 when the latter approaches the end of its rearward stroke. The article removing member 26 has a hook 36 pivoted to depending arms 37 and has a lug 38 normally contacting with one of said arms due to the action of a spring 39. The hook 36 has a plurality of shoulders 40. The article removing member 26 is also provided with a depending plate 41 from which projects laterally a cam 42 having the upper cam face 43 and the lower cam face 44. This cam controls the coin mechanism which will now be described.

The coin mechanism Our present invention is preferably coin controlled in order that the purchaser at the time of purchase will deposit the proper amount in the machine. The coin or check of the proper denomination is inserted in the coin slot 10 and passes' through the coin chute 45 and into a'coin retainer 46. One side of the coin chute is pivoted and acted upon by a spring 47 which tends to retain the pivoted side in closed position. The bottom of the coin retainer is normally closed by a coin stop 48 in the form of an angle guided in a bracket 49 and having a shoulder forming recess, a wall of which interlocks with the bracket 49 as clearly set forth in our prior Patent No. 1,437,970. r

The coin stop 48 has one end pivoted to a lever 50 which in turn is pivoted to a vertically movable arm 51 suitably guided and cut away at its upper end to form a shoulder 52. The member 51 carries an anti-friction roller 53. A second member 54 is guided for vertical movement on the door and is provided with a roller 55. The lower end of this member 54 is pivotally connected at 57 to a cam plate 56, the lower end of which has a bottom cam face 58 riding on a coin retained in the coin retainer 46. v

59 is a return chute leading to the coin return opening 11 and 60 is a coin box which received the coins discharged from the coin retainer 46. The coin slot 10 when the machine is not in operating condition is closed by means of a plate 61 constructed and operated similar to that shown in "our prior Patent No. 1,437,970.

The pivoted cam plate 56 has one end of a spring 62 connected to it, the other end of such spring being connected to a fixed point, and a spring 63 has one end secured to a fixed point and the other to a coin stop 48 so that when the latter is released it will become disengaged from the bracket 49 and will move to the left of the position seen in Figure 2.

The operation of our novel vending machine will now be apparent to those skilled in this art and is as follows:-

By releasing the screw 19 the article support 15 can be removed and the articles, such as for example, the towels 24, are strung on the article support 15 which is then reinserted in place and locked in position by the screw 19. The door 7 is closed and locked and the machine is now ready for operation. 7

It will be understood that in accordance with this invention the articles can be vended for temporary use only or can be vended in such a manner that they can be taken away by the purchaser.

Assuming now that an intending purchaser inserts a coin or check of the proper denomination in the coin slot 10, such coin will pass through such coin slot and the coin chute 45 and is received in the coin retainer 46 and comes to rest against the coin stop 48 which at this time closes the bottom of the coin retainer 46. The intending purchaser now takes hold of the grasping portion 28 of, the article removing member 26 and moves it towards the left of the position seen in Figure 1.

The cam face 44 riding up on the roller 55 will 7 cause the member 54 to move downwardly thereby rocking the cam member 56 on its pivot and the cam face 58 engaging the periphery of the coin will press the latter downwardly against the coin stop member 48 thereby causing the latter to move downwardly and be released from the bracket 49 and the spring 63 will move the coin stop 48 to the left of the position seen in Figure 2 so that the coin which has operated the machine will drop into the coin box 60.

As the coin stop 48 moves to the left it rocks the lever 56 on its pivot thereby causing a down ward movement of the member5l so that the shoulder 52 is moved out of engagement with a shoulder 40 of the stop 36, see Figures 2 and 5, so that the article removing member 26 is now free to continue in its movement towards the left. As the article removing member moves towards the left the article receiving lever 30 passes into the slot 16 in the article support 15 and the hook 31 passing beneath a grommet 25 will take hold of the nearest article 24 so that when the operaids tor moves the article removing member 26 to.-

will be held in such position that it cannot drop into the aperture 23 in the article support and also raise it sufficiently so that the pointed end 32 will be in the path of the cam face of the cam 34.

The continued movement toward the right of the article removing member causes the rocking of the article carrier 30 so that the grommet of the article slides over the delivery end of the article support and over the terminal 16'. It will be apparent that as the grommetof the article which is being removed passes along the retainer 15, it will come into engagement with the spring 22 so that as the article carrier is rocked upwardly by the cam 34 the spring will facilitate the removal of the grommet from the hook 31. If the cable 1'7 is employed the article drops down on moving member cannot be moved to pick up an other article until another coin or check of the proper denomination has been inserted into the machine.

If the cable 17 is not employed then the article will drop into a position accessible to the intending purchaser and can be removed through the delivery opening 12. As the member 30 is moved towards the right it will be apparent that the cam 34 rocks it, and the upper portion of the terminal 16 in proximity to the end of the slot 16 is rounded to facilitate the rocking of the article carrier 30.

It will now be apparent that we have devised a new and useful vending machine which embodies the features of advantage enumerated as desirable in the statement of the invention and the above description, and while we have, in the present instance, shown and described a preferred embodiment thereof which will give in practice satisfactory and reliable results, it is to be understood that this embodiment is susceptible of modification in various particulars without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A vending machine adapted to vend articles provided with grommets, comprising a casing having an article receiving compartment and a vending opening, an article retainer comprising a bar having a detent and having its forward end downwardly deflected, a reciprocatory article removing member having a hook at one end to engage the grommet of an article on said retainer, and a detent at its opposite end, a spring to move said detent towards said retainer, means to actuate said member to effect the release of an article from its hook, and a spring carried by said retainer and over which said grommet passes and facilitating the removal of the grommet from said hook.

2. A vending machine adapted to vend articles provided with grommets, comprising a casing having an article receiving compartment and a vending opening, a channelled bar having its upper face smooth and on which the grommets can slide, an article removing member movable in said channel having a hook to enter a grommet and carry it, and having its opposite end pointed, a spring to move said pointed end towards said retainer, said retainer having a stop shoulder in the path of said pointed end, means to move said member to permit it to pass said stop shoulder, and a spring having one end secured to said retainer and its opposite end bent outwardly, whereby when a grommet passes over it, the removal of the grommet from said hook is facilitated.

JOHN FRITSCHE. JOSEPH C. HADIK. 

